Boot Camp Chief Held in Boy’s Death

The director of a boot camp for troubled youngsters was arrested on murder and child-abuse charges Friday in the death of a teenage camper who collapsed in 116-degree heat last summer.

Charles Long II, 56, was also charged with aggravated assault for allegedly pulling a knife on a camper, and marijuana possession, for a quarter-pound of the drug found in his bedroom closet.

The second-degree murder charge was filed over the death of 14-year-old Anthony Haynes. He died July 1 while attending a five-week boot camp operated by the America’s Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Assn.

The medical examiner’s office said Haynes died of complications from dehydration and near-drowning--dehydration after being made to stand in the sun for up to five hours, the near-drowning from being left in a motel bathtub, where he had been taken to cool him off.

Two other boot camp staffers also were arrested Friday.

Camp sergeant Ray Anderson, 39, was charged with child abuse for allegedly spanking, stomping, beating and whipping more than 14 children. He was also accused of denying them water or shade in the heat.

A 17-year-old counselor was charged with child abuse and was being held at a juvenile detention center. The arrests of more camp officials were expected, said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Long plans to plead not guilty at his Feb. 22 arraignment, said his attorney, David Smith. He was jailed on $100,000 bail.

Anderson’s lawyer, David Derickson, said his client also would plead not guilty at next week’s arraignment. Anderson’s bail was set at $10,620.

The camp opened in 2001 and was closed by the sheriff’s office July 2 after Haynes died.

Investigators said the camp’s regimen included forced marches, black uniforms in triple-digit temperatures, harsh discipline and a daily diet limited to an apple, a carrot and a bowl of beans.

Lawsuits have been filed by Haynes’ parents and a woman who claimed her son was beaten, forced to eat mud and deprived of sleep.